Online betting systems

ABSTRACT

Online betting systems are disclosed in which a number of players may offer and accept bets online on the outcome of events, for example sporting events. Each player may be both offering bets and accepting them. By linking together, in a central server operating the system, databases reflecting betting data relating to bets which have been both offered and accepted, but which are outstanding because the outcome of the event is not yet known, and reflecting account data of the players, a players theoretical exposure at any one time may be calculated, and action taken to update the betting database data if the theoretical exposure would exceed the amount held in the account of the player concerned. By carrying out that calculation ignoring unmatched offers which each player has made, unnecessary restrictions do not need to be placed on the offers made by each player. Once an offer is accepted, however, a fresh calculation is made and this can result in previously existing other offers being deleted. This approach improves the liquidity of the system and enables players to operate to a greater extent, thereby improving the return to the operator of the system.

This invention relates to online betting systems and, in particular, toonline betting systems of the exchange type which seek to match betsoffered by users of the system, hereinafter called “players”, on a realtime basis.

Recent years have seen a substantial rise of betting activity carriedout via the Internet. In standard fashion, the first Internetapplications were effectively a replication using the Internet ofexisting betting arrangements, for example where a bookmaker offers oddson particular outcomes, for example who will win a horse race orfootball match. The offer may change in time, but those who accept theoffer place bets with the bookmaker and, if the outcome desired by theplayer then occurs, the bookmaker pays out. In such a scenario, thebookmaker acts as a common contractor with a large number of individualplayers, each betting transaction being between bookmaker and player,though the odds offered by the bookmaker may vary in time depending onbets already placed, but where the outcome is still unknown.

The Internet is perfectly suited to act as the communications mediumbetween players who hold an account with the bookmaker and the bookmakeritself, with bets placed being debited from the player's account andwinnings credited to it.

With the advent of the Internet, however, the possibility arose ofindividual bets being made between individual players, rather thanbetween player and bookmaker. Because of the abilities of computer-basedsystems to accept, classify, search and present data, it is possible torun betting systems online where individuals can post offers, others canaccept them, individual contracts can be made and the stakes are shiftedto the players' accounts. The operator of the system can derive incomefrom charging players in any appropriate fashion, and, of course, theability to store and manipulate very substantial amounts of data alsoextends to the straightforward ability of storing an accurate andauditable log of players' activities, thus enabling the detail of anybetting transaction to be examined in depth and at will.

In the description which follows of an Internet-based online bettingsystem, both as regards known betting systems and with respect to theimproved betting system in accordance with the invention, certain termsare used which it is useful, for clarity of explanation, to define. Inthis specification, accordingly, the following terms have the followingmeanings:

Player

-   -   A user of the system, whether exclusively offering bets for        other players to accept, or accepting offers made by other        players, or engaging in both activities.

Event

-   -   Something which has an outcome which is unknown when a bet is        offered and accepted, but where the outcome becomes apparent        subsequently, when the event occurs.

Selection

-   -   A condition that may or may not hold relating to the possible        outcome of an event.

Market

-   -   A collection of selections relating to a particular event. If        the collection includes all possible outcomes of the event, and        in such a way that exactly one of those outcomes will obtain        once the event has occurred, the market is said to be a        “complete” market.

Back Bet

-   -   A bet that a certain selection will obtain following the        occurrence of event.

Lay Bet

-   -   A bet that a certain selection will not obtain subsequent to the        occurrence of the event.

Win

-   -   The amount of money won on a back bet or lay bet following the        occurrence of the event so that the outcome in respect of which        the bet was placed becomes known.

Selection Win

-   -   The sum of the back win plus all lay wins of other selections in        the market.

Complementary Selection Win

-   -   This operates if the market is not complete, or if a player has        not made bets on all selections, the complementary selection win        is the sum of all lay wins of the other selections.

Exposure

-   -   The maximum amount of money which a player may lose if all bets        accepted by him, or offered by him and accepted by others,        resolve against him.

Bet Exposure

-   -   The exposure that results from all bets that are currently        agreed, i.e. the stakes minus the least of all selection wins        including the complementary ones.

Theoretical Exposure

-   -   The worst possible scenario, taking into account outstanding        offers. In other words, the theoretical exposure is the stakes        of accepted bets and the stakes offered for backing selections        deducting the least combination of a selection win and the lay        stake minus the back stake offered on that selection.

It should be noted that neither the bet exposure nor the theoreticalexposure can ever be less than zero, because events may be cancelled.

In a known Internet betting system, the organiser of the system providesa central computer which is conveniently identified as a “bettingserver”. This can be accessed via Internet connection by individualusers of the system, using any remote computing device which iscompatible with the Internet, for example a mobile telephone, hand-heldcomputer or PDA, a portable or laptop, or a personal computer, or,indeed, a terminal on a computer system.

What is important is that the computer apparatus in question is underthe control of the particular user and, of course, that the user isidentified to the system. This may be achieved by a customaryregistration process usually involving an application which may becompleted online, and acceptance of that application by the bettingserver (i.e. by the parties owning and controlling the use of thebetting server). By means of appropriate funds transfer, the player maydeposit an appropriate sum of money with the owners of the system, andthis sum can be fed in as part of the data held by the betting server onthat player's account. Although the detailed implementation may vary,the betting server may be operated to update and maintain an “accountdatabase” which keeps track of the players and their deposits, and whichadjusts the amounts in the individual players' accounts once the outcomeof an event is known.

In an exchange betting system operated in this way, the identities ofthe individual players are accordingly known to the system, but they arenot known to the other players.

Players who wish to participate in an exchange betting system of thistype may make offers relating to certain outcomes of certain events atgiven odds. Those offers can be made using any appropriate interfacedepending upon the computer used by the player. As soon as an offer isreceived by the betting server, the data which the offer constitutes isfed into a central “bet database” and each offer can then be viewed byother players. The central bet database enables bets to be categorisedand sorted so that players who are looking for a bet to accept may viewbets in a given area (where they reckon they have the necessaryknowledge or experience to bet and win) without difficulty. Typicalcategories would be football, horse racing or stock movements. Sortingmay also occur e.g. by size or stake. If a player, on viewing a range ofavailable offers, decides to accept one of the offers, then they cancommunicate with the system in simple and straightforward fashion using,for example, a keyboard and/or mouse, or a combination of the two, toindicate that they accept the offer. The bet database is then updatedappropriately.

Once a bet offered has been accepted, there is essentially a bettingcontract between the two players which will be administered by thebetting server. The outcome of whatever the event is relating to anaccepted offer will, once known, determine which player wins, and therelevant amount of money can then be removed from the account of thelosing player and placed in the account of the winning player.

The system may automatically advise both players, and make theappropriate adjustments to the respective players' accounts once theoutcome of the event is known. Most bets are of the simple sort whereone of the players wins the money betted by the other.

In order to carry out these transactions and notifications, the bettingserver may be thought of conceptually as embodying three main functionalbuilding blocks, viz. a communications building block acting as aninterface between the players and the other functional parts of theserver, a betting processor component which continuously feeds datainto, deletes data from and generally updates a bet database, and, as athird component, an accounting processor system, including an accountdatabase storing financial transaction details for each player, theidentity of each player, and the amount of money standing to the creditof his/her account.

The classical known way of operating an online exchange betting systemof this type is to provide that when any player places offers on the betdatabase, funds are reserved in the account database so that if theoffers are all accepted, the exposure of the player concerned is notgreater than the sum of money deposited in the account database by them.

Operating in this way is disadvantageous because circumstances can arisein real time where the exposure of an individual player, as reflected inthe account database, approaches the amount of credit allocated to thatplayer in that database. At that point, the system needs immediately tostop any further offers being made.

Although the system has been specifically described above with referenceto a disjunctive market, i.e. one where the selections do not overlap,it is clear that it may be applied analogously to other types of marketby use of appropriate software to run an online betting system in such amarket, for example a handicap market, e.g. in which there areoverlapping selections. An example is in football where one selection isfor A to win by 3 goals and another for A to win by 4 goals. If thelatter selection holds, so will the former.

By working out exposures from data in the bet database and combiningthose exposures with data in the account database, unnecessary curbs onactions by players are eliminated without prejudicing the position ofthe operator of the system.

In accordance with the present invention, there is provided an onlinebetting system enabling bets to be made bilaterally within a group ofplayers, comprising a central server, a plurality of remotecomputer-based devices programmed to interact with the central server toenable communication between each device and the central server via theInternet programme means in the central server for storing andprocessing betting data stored in a bet database and each remotecomputer-based device having a display means enabling a player to viewinformation in the bet database held by the central server and havinginput means enabling the player to input information, via the remotedevice, into the central server, means in the central server to receiveand store information relating to offers posted by players, means in thecentral server for storing and processing data corresponding to theamount of money in an account held by each player with the operators ofthe central server, means for calculating from betting data in the betdatabase server, on receipt of an offer or on acceptance by anotherplayer of a betting offer posted by way of input to the central serverby a player, the exposure of each player, means for computing atheoretical exposure from the bet exposure, the outstanding offers andthe aggregate winnings means enabling the operator of the system todefine an acceptable level of theoretical exposure, means forcalculating if the acceptance of other offers placed by the player willcause the theoretical exposure to exceed the acceptable level and, ifsuch occurs, to remove from the bet database sufficient offers made bythe player to reduce the theoretical exposure to below the acceptablelevel.

In practice, this is done by programming the betting server to total foreach player, continuously and in real time, the total of bets matchedbetween that user and all other users of the system, including detailsof the event and the selection, and to total the bets matched in termsof possible winnings and stakes betted, both lay bets and back bets,whereby to compute the theoretical exposure for each player. Unmatchedbets are only taken into account when computing the theoreticalexposure.

Preferably, the central server includes means for receiving and storingbudget limits input by a player, means in the server to receive andstore prioritisation and budgeting information relating to the offers,and the means for removing offers operates in accordance with theprioritisation and budgeting information

There is accordingly a fundamental operational difference between anexchange betting system of known type and a system according to thepresent invention.

Current exchange betting systems operate on the basis that offers madeand not accepted are treated the same as offers made and accepted.Specifically, all offers made by a particular player (whether matched orunmatched) result in the player's available funds being ‘reserved’against these offers on a ‘dollar-for-dollar’ basis, i.e. one dollar (orother currency as applicable) offered, whether matched or unmatched,results in the deduction of one dollar from the offering player'savailable funds in their account, resulting in such funds not then beingavailable for the making of other offers or accepting other players'offers. This practice effectively limits the use to which players' fundsmay be put as it ties up funds in offers which may or may not beaccepted, reducing the amount available for making other offers oraccepting offers made by other players.

Using a system in accordance with the invention, a series of offers maybe made in excess of a player's available funds. This is done bytreating unmatched offers differently to matched offers. Morespecifically:

-   -   a) the placement of offers does not lead to funds being        ‘reserved’ on a ‘dollar-for dollar’ basis; instead, funds remain        available for the making of other offers until such time as one        or more of the offers made are matched;    -   b) only when an offer is matched are a player's funds relating        to the offer ‘reserved’, at which time the availability of funds        for other unmatched offers is automatically re-assessed and        reduced accordingly;    -   i) where insufficient funds remain to cover unmatched offers        made, these offers are automatically suspended from the market        and may not be then accepted by other players;    -   ii) where sufficient funds remain available to cover unmatched        offers made, these offers remain on the market for acceptance by        other players.

To ensure player accounts never become overdrawn, the system accordingto the invention provides real-time tracking of a player's availablefunds in relation to offers accepted by other players. At the technicallevel, this may be achieved by enabling the betting server to correlatedata in the bet database with data held in the account database in realtime transactions so that the acceptance of offers, i.e. the occurrenceof a matched bet, leads to changes in the data held in the accountdatabase regarding the player concerned.

The system according to the invention thus maximises a player's use ofhis/her available funds by allowing the player to exceed their availablefunds for the making of offers, while ensuring that the player's actualexposure (the total possible loss from the player's offered betsaccepted by other players) is never greater than their funds availableand while ensuring that the market is not flooded with offers thatcannot be accepted. This is achieved by computing the bet exposure onall accepted bets and adjusting the funds available accordingly, and bythe use of the theoretical exposure calculation, which compares amultiple, for example 100, of the amount held in the player's accountwith the theoretical exposure, i.e. the liability of the player on theassumption of the worst possible outcomes for that player of all events,taking into account winnings, matched bets and unmatched offers andpossible outcomes. This enables a player to make offers which, if theywere all accepted by other players and the bets then lost, would exposethe player to a liability of 100 times the amount in their account.

The way in which the betting server forming part of the system of thepresent invention may operate will depend on the programming, and thedetailed programming may be produced by those skilled in the art to suitthe particular requirements of any promoter or system operator of thebetting system of the present invention. The way in which the promoterearns money from the system can be any permissible combination ofsubscription, commission, or other charging mechanism. The way in whichsystems according to the present invention enhance use of players' fundsby not cutting off potential transactions due to ostensible lack offundability, means that the player's money is put to best use andmaximum use, in turn benefiting both player and system operator.

The betting system of the invention is thus characterised by programmemeans having a core functionality enabling the system to compute the betexposure and the theoretical exposure on a market for a given player,and to remove offers made by that player from the bet database if thetheoretical exposure exceeds their account balance by more than isstipulated by the exchange operator.

The theoretical and bet exposure of a player on a market withdisjunctive selections, i.e. a market where at most one of theselections will turn out to be the case, may be calculated from thefollowing equations:theoretical(m,u)=Sum[s in m] (stake(s,u)+backOffer(s,u))−Sum[s inm](layWin(s,u))−Min[s in m](rawWin(s,u)+backOffer(s,u)−layOffer(s,u))exp(m,u) Sum[s in m](stake(s,u))−Sum[s in m](layWin(s,u)−Min[s in m](rawWin(s,u)).In these equations:

-   theoretical(m,u) is the amount a player u can lose on a market m, if    the worst combination of accepted offers and actual outcome should    occur. It is never less than zero because all events can be    cancelled;-   exp(m,u) is the amount that a player u can lose on a market m from    his currently accepted bets, i.e. the bet exposure of u on m. It is    never less than zero because all events can be cancelled;-   s in m is the set of all selections s in a market m;-   stake(s,u) is the amount betted on a selection s (back and lay) by a    player u;-   layWin(s,u) is the amount that a player u will win if a selection s    does NOT hold;-   backOffer(s,u) is the amount offered as stake on bets that a    condition will hold;-   layOffer(s,u) is the amount offered as stake on bets that a    condition will NOT hold;-   backWin(s,u) is the amount that a player u will win if a selection    does hold; and-   rawWin(s,u) is backWin(s,u)−layWin(s,u), i.e. the impact on winning    that is specific for player u on selection s.

From the formula, it can be seen that, when backing a selection apartfrom the stake, the exposure is affected only if the bet is on theselection with the least rawWin. Thus, the marginal rebaterebateBack(b,w,s,u) on exposure for player u of betting the amount b towin w on backing selection s is given by the equation:rebateBack(b,w,s,u)=zero if s !=minsel(u,market(s))rawWin (minsel2(u,market(s))), if less than w & s=minsel(u,market(s))w otherwisewhere:

-   market(s) is the market where s is a selection-   minsel(u,m) is the selection with the least raw Win(s,u) for player    u of all selections s in market m, and-   minsel2(u,m) is the selection with the second least raw Win(s,u) for    player u of all selections s in market m.

For lay bets, the change of bet exposure apart from the stake isrebateLay(b,w,s,u) for player u betting stake b against selection s towin w and can be computed as:

rawWin(s)−rawWin(minsel(u,market(s)) if less than w

w otherwise if s !=

minsel(u,market(s))

zero otherwise.

In betting systems according to the invention, the above equations arecalculated and continuously updated. This may be effected using standardprogramming, but, in order to do so, the betting server has to beprogrammed to acquire data both from the bet database and from theaccount database which contains details of the player, and the amount ofmoney in the account database standing to that player's credit. This canbe continually repeated with fresh calculations being done each time theplayer decides to take up a betting offer from another player and eachtime one of the offers made by that player is actually taken up byanother player.

In a further development of the online betting system according to theinvention, the system may be arranged to enable a player to allocatefunds in his/her account to specific betting areas. Instead ofcalculating the player's theoretical exposure taking into account theplayer's entire account balance, it is possible to apportion/segregatethe balance across different events or bet types and apply a multiple toeach of these separately. For example, a £10k account balance could beallocated as follows:

EPL £5k (×100=£500,000 in offers on EPL)

NFL £4k (×100=£400,000 in offers on NFL)

NHL £1k (×100=£100,000 in offers on NHL)

rather than just enabling the player to post up to 1 million in offersregardless of sport or bet type. This, for example, prevents all of theplayer's NFL offers being cancelled because of £90k of matched EPL bets.The multiple could be varied by sport or by bet type.

The system may also be programmed to enable players to decide how theiroffers are cancelled. For example:

-   -   First in/first out—the player's first offer is cancelled first        (last offer cancelled last)    -   First in/last out—the player's first offer is cancelled last        (last offer is cancelled first)    -   Pruning—all offers are reduced versus cancelling    -   Priority—to give prioritised treatment to certain offers to        ensure they are cancelled last    -   By depth of market priority—give priority to offers that are        priced further from mid rate.

The invention is further explained and illustrated with reference to theaccompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 shows diagrammatically an Internet betting system in accordancewith the invention;

FIG. 2 shows the detail of the betting server shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 sets out in block diagram form the data fields which have to becompleted for a player in order to participate in the betting systemaccording to the invention;

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of how the system according to the inventionadjusts any bets that a player may offer in accordance with hisfinancial exposure at the time; and

FIG. 5 is a diagrammatic view of a specific scenario showing a possibletrain of events.

Turning first to FIG. 1, this shows the betting system in diagrammaticform consisting of a betting server 1 which may be connected via theInternet conventionally represented as a cloud to any one of theindividual computer communications devices 2 to 8 possessed by andoperated by individual users. The individuals, each identified by astylised figure labelled “player”, may communicate with the bettingserver 1 via the Internet 9 using their respective communicationsdevice, for example a laptop computer 3 or a mobile telephone 8.

The broad internal arrangement of the betting server is shown in FIG. 2.As can be seen, it is connected to the Internet 9 and the programme issuch that the server provides a website which is used by the players aswill appear in more detail below. Because it is a website-based systemthat is illustrated, the betting server contains a plurality of webprocessors 12 which deal with the interaction between the server andeach player via a conventional graphic user interface, and which are inturn connected to a number of further processing units inside theserver. These consist of a set of betting processors 14 which constantlyupdate a bet database 15 and, separately, a set of accounting processors16 which constantly update an account database 17.

In accordance with the invention, the belting processors are arranged tobe able to retrieve information from the accounting processors so as toensure that the maximum exposure is always less than the amount standingto the player's credit, despite changes in the data held on theaccounting or bet databases.

As noted above, in order to use the system, a player needs to providedata to the betting computer and this is done by inputting appropriatedata and storing that data internally of the server. For any givenplayer, it is convenient to calculate and hold the relevant data foreach particular player and for each particular selection. This can beused, as shown in FIG. 3, to construct a “summary” which contains thetotal of bets matched in terms of possible winnings and stakes bet, bothon the lay side and on the back side. The least favourable or least winselection is an important term when computing the bet exposure of theplayer, or specifically the bet exposure following the placing of anoffer or acceptance of a bet, as set out above.

As can be seen from FIG. 3, for each given player, i.e. for each uniqueuser ID, certain data is derived and stored until overwritten bysubsequent data.

The exact way in which the player's activity changes his statusinternally of the betting server is easiest seen by considering asimple, but realistic, example. The example chosen for consideration isthe two events being the semi-finals of a league championship. By thistime, there are four teams remaining, which can be denoted A, B, C andD, with A playing B and C playing D.

If we now consider the first player, let us assume that he has a creditof £1000 and he wishes to make the following offers:

1. £500 at odds of 1.95 to 1 for A to beat B.

2. £500 at odds of 1.95 to 1 for B to beat A.

3. £500 at odds of 1.95 to 1 for C to beat D.

4. £500 at odds of 1.95 to 1 for D to beat C.

If we now assume that another player decides to accept offer number 1,but only to the extent of £400, then the original player can now offerthe following:

1. £100 at odds of 1.95 to 1 for A to beat B.

2. £500 at odds of 1.95 to 1 for B to beat A with offers 3 and 4 asbefore.

If a third player now accepts the fourth offer in its entirety, thetotal amount wagered is now £500, £400 from the second player and £500from the third, so the first player has now effectively reserved £900out of his original £1000. However, he may still offer £100 at odds of1.95 to 1 for A to beat B and the original second and third offers. Thesecond offer can still be made because it is opposed to matched offernumber 1 while the third can be made because it is opposed to matchedoffer number 4.

It is necessary sometimes, however, to adjust outstanding offersaccording to the available funds. Again, this is done by essentiallyintegrating the accounting system, the matching process and the registerof offers. When an offer is made, the programming of the betting servercauses a check to be carried out to ensure that the corresponding fundsare available to enable the player in question to enter the specificwager proposed. Funds do not need to be reserved, but the maximumpossible loss is recorded at the same time as any offer is made and whenthe offer is wholly or partly matched by another player, the funds arethen reserved by the betting server as necessary to enter the matchedwager. The remainder of the offer (if not taken up entirely) and themaximum remaining loss can be computed and recorded with the offer. If,as a result of the match, or because of other financial transactionsmade to the player's funds in the accounting system, the available fundshave decreased, the set of outstanding offers may be pruned bycalculating the theoretical exposure of the player making the offersincluding any exposure rebate that occurs because of opposing offers.

This is shown diagrammatically in FIG. 4.

In practice, operation of the system in real time by a plurality ofusers can be seen as involving three conceptual stages, the first beingthe betting process, the second a matching process and the third, whichis the part of the process resulting from the system in accordance withthe invention, being one which, following checking of the accounts,removes offers being made by a player from the system which that playercannot fulfill in a worse case scenario.

This is shown diagrammatically in FIG. 5.

Thus, by constructing a betting system using a betting serverconstructed to operate in accordance with the above mechanism, theplayers may make the maximum use of their available funds, confidentthat they will not find themselves in an overdrawn position, while theproviders of the service will see an increased amount of outstanding andaccepted offers and thus, to the extent that their return for operatingthe system depends on the amount of use that is made of the system,increase their return. Put simply, the invention serves to increase theliquidity of the system.

By calculating exposures from data in the bet database and combiningthose exposures with data in the account database, unnecessary curbs onactions by players are reduced or eliminated without prejudicing theposition of the operator of the system.

1. Computer apparatus adapted to enable online betting activity to beundertaken, and enabling bets to be made bilaterally within a group ofplayers, the apparatus comprising a central server, a plurality ofremote computer-based devices programmed to interact with the centralserver to enable communication between each device and the centralserver via the Internet, program means in the central server for storingand processing betting data stored in a bet database and each remotecomputer-based device having a display means enabling a player to viewinformation in the bet database held by the central server and havinginput means enabling the player to input information, via the remotedevice, into the central server, means in the central server to receiveand store information relating to offers posted by players, means in thecentral server for storing and processing data corresponding to theamount of money in an account held by each player with the operators ofthe central server, means for calculating from betting data in the betdatabase server, on receipt of an offer or on acceptance by anotherplayer of a betting offer posted by way of input to the central serverby a player, the exposure of each player, means for computing atheoretical exposure from the bet exposure, the outstanding offers andthe aggregate winnings, means enabling the operator of the system todefine an acceptable level of theoretical exposure, and means forcalculating if the acceptance of other offers placed by the player willcause the theoretical exposure to exceed the acceptable level and, ifsuch occurs, to remove from the bet database sufficient offers made bythe player to reduce the theoretical exposure to below the acceptablelevel.
 2. Computer apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the centralserver includes means for receiving and storing budget limits input by aplayer, means in the server to receive and store prioritization andbudgeting information relating to the offers, and wherein the means forremoving offers operates in accordance with the prioritization andbudgeting information.
 3. Computer apparatus according to claim 1wherein the central server is programmed to total for each player,continuously and in real time, the total of bets matched between thatuser and all other users of the system, including details of the eventand the selection, and to total the offers and matched bets in terms ofpossible winnings and stakes betted, both lay bets and back bets,whereby to compute the theoretical exposure for each player.
 4. Computerapparatus according to claim 2 wherein the central server is programmedto total for each player, continuously and in real time, the total ofbets matched between that user and all other users of the system,including details of the event and the selection, and to total theoffers and matched bets in terms of possible winnings and stakes betted,both lay bets and back bets, whereby to compute the theoretical exposurefor each player.
 5. Computer apparatus according to claim 1 wherein thecentral server includes an account database system and a bet databasesystem, and the server is programmed to enable a functional connectionto be effected between the two.
 6. Computer apparatus according to claim2 wherein the central server includes an account database system and abet database system, and the server is programmed to enable a functionalconnection to be effected between the two.
 7. Computer apparatusaccording to claim 3 wherein the central server includes an accountdatabase system and a bet database system, and the server is programmedto enable a functional connection to be effected between the two. 8.Computer apparatus according to claim 4 wherein the central serverincludes an account database system and a bet database system, and theserver is programmed to enable a functional connection to be effectedbetween the two.
 9. Computer apparatus according to claim 1 wherein thecentral server is programmed, on the outcome of an event becoming known,to advise each player with an interest in the outcome of that event ofthe outcome, to adjust the player's account accordingly, and torecalculate the player's theoretical exposure.
 10. Computer apparatusaccording to claim 2 wherein the central server is programmed, on theoutcome of an event becoming known, to advise each player with aninterest in the outcome of that event of the outcome, to adjust theplayer's account accordingly, and to recalculate the player'stheoretical exposure.
 11. Computer apparatus according to claim 3wherein the central server is programmed, on the outcome of an eventbecoming known, to advise each player with an interest in the outcome ofthat event of the outcome, to adjust the player's account accordingly,and to recalculate the player's theoretical exposure.
 12. Computerapparatus according to claim 4 wherein the central server is programmed,on the outcome of an event becoming known, to advise each player with aninterest in the outcome of that event of the outcome, to adjust theplayer's account accordingly, and to recalculate the player'stheoretical exposure.
 13. Computer apparatus according to claim 5wherein the central server is programmed, on the outcome of an eventbecoming known, to advise each player with an interest in the outcome ofthat event of the outcome, to adjust the player's account accordingly,and to recalculate the player's theoretical exposure.
 14. Computerapparatus according to claim 6 wherein the central server is programmed,on the outcome of an event becoming known, to advise each player with aninterest in the outcome of that event of the outcome, to adjust theplayer's account accordingly, and to recalculate the player'stheoretical exposure.
 15. Computer apparatus according to claim 7wherein the central server is programmed, on the outcome of an eventbecoming known, to advise each player with an interest in the outcome ofthat event of the outcome, to adjust the player's account accordingly,and to recalculate the player's theoretical exposure.
 16. Computerapparatus according to claim 8 wherein the central server is programmed,on the outcome of an event becoming known, to advise each player with aninterest in the outcome of that event of the outcome, to adjust theplayer's account accordingly, and to recalculate the player'stheoretical exposure.
 17. Computer apparatus adapted to enable onlinebetting activity to be undertaken, and enabling bets to be madebilaterally within a group of players, the apparatus comprising acentral server, a plurality of remote computer-based devices programmedto interact with the central server to enable communication between eachdevice and the central server via the Internet, a program component inthe central server for storing and processing betting data stored in abet database and each remote computer-based device having a displaycomponent enabling a player to view information in the bet database heldby the central server and having an input component enabling the playerto input information, via the remote device, into the central server, acomponent in the central server to receive and store informationrelating to offers posted by players, a component in the central serverfor storing and processing data corresponding to the amount of money inan account held by each player with the operators of the central server,a component for calculating from betting data in the bet databaseserver, on receipt of an offer or on acceptance by another player of abetting offer posted by way of input to the central server by a player,the exposure of each player, a component for computing a theoreticalexposure from the bet exposure, the outstanding offers and the aggregatewinnings, a component enabling the operator of the system to define anacceptable level of theoretical exposure, and a component forcalculating if the acceptance of other offers placed by the player willcause the theoretical exposure to exceed the acceptable level and, ifsuch occurs, to remove from the database sufficient offers made by theplayer to reduce the theoretical exposure to below the acceptable level.18. Computer apparatus according to claim 17 wherein the central serverincludes a component for receiving and storing budget limits input by aplayer, a component in the server to receive and store prioritizationand budgeting information relating to the offers, and wherein thecomponent for removing offers operates in accordance with theprioritization and budgeting information.